If passengers don't already worry over air travel, it seems fliers can have anxiety even before take-off: Two Delta planes collide July 14 in takeoff preparation at Boston's Logan Airport. The crash follows April's JFK taxiing collision in New York and marks the second runway accident in 3 months. Three Delta planes have now had runway accidents in just months.
The Delta runway crash been upgraded from an "incident" to an "accident". Things seem a little fuzzy when it comes to definition. Reportedly, "an incident is considered an accident when there is a loss of life or severe damage, and in this [July 14, 2011] case [at Boston Logan International Airport] at least one plane suffered severe damage," according to NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson.
Perhaps drivers need to start taking a cue from the airline industry and insist to insurance companies that fender-bender was no accident -- it was simply an 'incident'.
Fliers say the huge Delta plane shook and travelers were screaming as international Delta flight 266, bound for Amsterdam from Boston, Massachusetts, collided with a smaller airplane during runway taxi -- an accident that sheared off the wing tip and left the Canadair plane badly damaged. Massively damaged was the entire tail of the huge Delta jet that was carrying more than 200 passengers: News video shows the extensive damage of the tail ripped open.
Ironically both planes are related to Delta, the smaller Canadair plane actually operated by the Delta airline.
No one knows why the commercial Delta plane and smaller Atlantic Southeast jet ran into each other but the collision spooked passengers -- in what fliers say felt like an auto accident -- sending one traveler to the hospital with neck pain or injury.
It all happened at night when a Delta Boeing 767 was taxiing for departure and take-off right before 8 p.m. late last night, Thursday, July 14. The Delta's left wing reportedly hit the Canadair Regional Jet 900 -- operated by Delta. The smaller Canadair jet had 74 passengers and three crew members on board was bound for Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. The larger Delta jumbo jet at Boston Logan Airport was carrying 204 passengers and 11 crew members.
On runways nearly perpendicular to one other, the physically-moving Delta jet at Boston hit the smaller Canadair Regional plane while the plane bound for North Carolina was at a standstill.
According to Kevin Hiatt, a pilot and executive vice president of the Flight Safety Foundation, "Contact between airliners on taxiways and runways is rare. The expert says: "Two airplanes coming in contact in this manner on a taxiway is not a real common occurrence. We see it [collisions] more often on ramps, with what we call swapping paint." Well, if tarmac collisions aren't common, they sure seem to be lately.
In New York on April 11, Comair Flight 6293 from Delta had just recently landed from Boston, Massachusetts, to JFK airport. The Delta flight had been waiting to park at JFK when the jet was struck accidentally by an Air France plane.
The FAA says it's "sending somebody to begin the investigation" for the July 14, 2011, Boston Logan Airport tarmac accident. That would probably be a good idea considering the July 14 Delta crash marks the second runway collision of Delta planes on a tarmac in just 3 months. Both accidents ironically involve Boston: On April 11, 2011 a Delta jet from Boston collided with an Air France plane in New York at JFK Airport.
The July 14 accident now marks three Delta planes involved in two runway collisions, in just three months. That makes three out of four planes -- involved in runway collisions at only New York and Boston airports -- as being related to the Delta airline.
It's unclear, exactly, what Delta's pilots are doing before or after takeoff but it doesn't appear to include a lot of attention to detail -- or attention to general things, like surrounding planes. Three out of four, 75%, ain't good.